What does Big Bang Theory tell us about Doctor Who?

Let’s start with a history lesson. Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait…

OK, so that’s the beginning of the title tune from The Big Bang Theory(BBT) — what has that to do with Doctor Who? Read on…

The Big Bang Theory

There is plenty of mention of Doctor Who in BBT: Sheldon watches it, Amy points out that with the whole of space and time, the Doctor likes contemporary London a lot. Leonard and Penny even had sex in a TARDIS prop at a party (Season Six Episode Five. The Holographic Excitation).

There is a even a Dalek version of the song Soft Kitty: Soft Kitty Dalek! as pictured to the left (not my artwork, follow the link for more).

This is all fun but so what? Well, I’d like to draw attention to a specific episode of Big Bang Theory…

The Raiders Minimization

In this episode, Amy proves to Sheldon that the plot doesn’t need Indiana Jones for the outcome to be the same. The events would unfold the same way regardless so technically it is flawed. If you haven’t seen the episode you might want to read a more detailed synopsis.

Now switch to Doctor Who. Many stories are of the history is happening, TARDIS arrives, history goes wrong Doctor / Companion fix things, history goes back on track. Are they some of the Minization Class? Are there some where the Doctor is an irrelevance?

The Doctor Minimization

Years ago when I listened to the sound track of Tenth Planet I thought actually if everybody say back, Mondas would still have exploded and the Cybermen would have died. Yes it’s an enormous episode from the First Doctor‘s point of view but for the flow of events the Doctor was irrelevant. A lot of this would have been as Hartnell was unwell but I still suggest this story didn’t need the Doctor.

A far more recent example is the Twelfth Doctor story In the Forest of the Night. Here the military are in irrelevance with their non-convincing attempt to stop the forest, the Doctor never gets anywhere until he realises he should leave well alone and had he not turned up the world would have been saved exactly the same way. Another minimization!